Shoppers turn out early for 24-hour Hy-Vee

Tuesday

May 13, 2014 at 10:11 AMMay 13, 2014 at 3:49 PM

By Tim LandisBusiness Editor

The supermarket business returned to MacArthur Boulevard in Springfield on Tuesday after a nearly two-decade absence.

Dozens of shoppers lined up for the 6 a.m. opening of the Hy-Vee supermarket and convenience store on the site of the old Kmart and Spillway Lanes, 2115 S. MacArthur Blvd. Shoppers and elected officials alike took note the boulevard has been without a full-service supermarket since Schnucks left nearby Town and Country Shopping Center in 1996.

Schnucks bought out the former National supermarket chain in 1995. The supermarket portion of Hy-Vee will be open 24 hours.

“We needed this on MacArthur. I hope it will do well, and I think it will,” said Les Ripka of Springfield. Ripka and wife, Susie, were among shoppers arriving later in the morning to a nearly full parking lot.

Susie Ripka said the couple shops a variety of local supermarkets based on price, adding that they planned to try Hy-Vee again.

“We shop at all the stores,” said Ripka. “We watch for the ads.”

Mayor Mike Houston was among elected officials at a store ribbon-cutting also attended by Hy-Vee executives from the corporate headquarters in West Des Moines, Iowa. The city of Springfield committed $3.5 million from a MacArthur Boulevard tax-increment financing district toward the cost of redeveloping the Kmart site.

“People have waited and waited. People didn't believe it was coming,” said Houston. “Now here it is. Hy-Vee brings new life to the boulevard.”

Houston predicted the supermarket and convenience store would draw additional retail and commercial development to the boulevard between Wabash and South Grand avenues. He said he still expects another major retail development to begin this summer with groundbreaking for the Outlets at Springfield in Legacy Pointe.

He said developers have not yet provided a groundbreaking date for the planned 80-store outlet at MacArthur and Interstate 72.

“If I knew that, I'd be tickled to death, but I don't. The last time I talked to the developer, he was still hopeful there'd be groundbreaking this year,” said Houston, “and I talked to him in the last two or three weeks.”

Global Outlet Management, based in Hershey, Penn., is the project developer.

Houston said discussions continue with Schnucks for a supermarket at Dirksen Parkway and Singer Avenue on the city's east side. The site north of J.C. Penney site also is in a tax increment financing district. Houston said he envisions an agreement similar to the deal with Hy-Vee that pledges early TIF revenue to redevelopment costs.

TIF districts earmark increased property tax revenue from improvements to encourage other development within the district.

Ward 6 Ald. Cory Jobe was president of the MacArthur Boulevard Business Association — now the MacArthur Boulevard Association — when Hy-Vee first approached the city about the prospects for a store on the old Kmart site.

Jobe was elected to the city council in 2011.

“The business association played a key role because we kept the spotlight on,” said Jobe, who added that the focus now should be to build on the momentum created by Hy-Vee.

“I always preached that we needed that 800-pound gorilla, and we got it in Hy-Vee,” said Jobe.